There are unwritten rules to almost every interaction in the world. First dates end with both parties saying they “had a great time”, people say they’ll “think about it” when they don’t want to do something, and every public talk in the world ends with an applause.

That’s just how things work.

Speaking of public speaking, here are some other “rules” the audience plays by:

People will stay until the end (it’s very unlikely for someone to walk out after a few seconds or minutes because doing so makes them look weird in front of everyone else)

There will always be clapping at the end

If a few people stand up to give a standing ovation, it’s likely others will follow suit (to avoid being left out)

A new stereo was being developed, and the electronics company created a focus group. They gathered people around to ask them what they thought of the stereo.

The features, whether they liked it, what they’d be willing to pay.

People said they’d happily pay $90, $100, or even $200.

Of course, the electronics company was thrilled! People loved the stereo!

Then, the focus group leader had an idea — he said “we’d love to thank you for participating in the focus group! We’ll be selling this stereo for $80, but we’d love to give you one. You can choose either the stereo or $20 cash”.

You guessed it — everyone took the cash. They’d been providing positive feedback the entire time to fit in with the group, not appear harsh or negative, and be liked by the focus group leader. After all, the company had spent millions of dollars developing the stereo! They didn’t want to be discouraging.

Check out the number of views on these 2 TEDx videos. They were filmed at the same TEDx event (TEDxHouston) in the same year (2010). One went viral. The other definitely didn’t.

While 1 talk has had a total of 1,601 views in the last 7 or so years, the other has had 1,000 TIMES THAT AMOUNT (and ended up getting picked up by TED, where the same video got another 31 million views).

What the hell? Don’t all TED Talks go viral?

How did a talk get 32 million views and the other only get 1,600 from the SAME EVENT? And how can you ensure you don’t end up with a TED Talk that flops?

If you believe Brené Brown’s success was 100% luck, you should stop reading now. This article isn’t for you.

Instead, let’s look at the intentional things you can do to increase the chances your TED Talk will go viral and get you long-term results (paid speaking, book deals, consulting customers and more).